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pensito

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word pensito

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
81–43 BC, Cicero
Ultimate origin
Latin (pendō)
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin penso
French peser
French penser
Latin pensito
Latin compenso
English recompense
Latin dispenso
Latin dispensator

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈpẽː.sɪ.toː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈpɛn.si.to][1]

Forms

pēnsitō (present infinitive pēnsitāre, perfect active pēnsitāvī, supine pēnsitātum); first conjugation[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin pēnsō (“to weigh”) + -itō, a frequentative.[2][1][3] Gellius lists it among the frequentatives and derives it through the participle pēnsus from pendō (“to weigh out, pay”).[3] De Vaan traces that verb to Proto-Italic *pend-e/o- (“to hang”); the sense went from hanging up to weighing out and paying.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL finds it three times in Cicero,[3] who uses it of paying taxes: the peoples who pay us revenues.[2][5]

Semantic evolution

In Cicero it is to pay, and of money to bring in interest.[2] An inscription has it of weighing in scales, of the Syrian goddess weighing life and rights,[2] and Pliny the Elder of weighing a life in an even balance.[5] Its commonest sense is to weigh in the mind, ponder:[2][5] Livy has plans that great minds must weigh, Suetonius Augustus pondering most carefully, and Tacitus Tiberius long considering whether to act.[2][5] Gellius uses it for comparing.[5] The TLL finds it a little more often from the 2nd century AD.[3] Church Latin has pay, weigh, compensate and ponder.[6]

Timeline

  • 81–43 BC – Cicero, of paying taxes.[2][7]
  • 59 BC–17 AD – Livy, of pondering plans.[2][7]
  • 98–115 AD – Tacitus, of Tiberius pondering.[5][7]
  • c. 165 AD – Gellius, of comparing.[5][7]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To weigh in scales.[2][5][1]
  2. To pay (taxes); of money, to bring in.[2][5][1]
  3. To weigh in the mind, ponder, consider; to compare.[2][5][1]

Word family

  • pēnsitātiō
  • pensitātor

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  7. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
Cite this entry

“Pensito.” Etymologically, 20 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/pensito. Accessed 20 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·